About Me

I'm a 40 something single mother of 2 - Matt, a United States Marine, who is married to the most beautiful girl in the world, Ashley and Kaitlin 14 going on 21, need I say more... two grandchildren, Tyler and Jordyn who is the applie of Mimi's eye...
I have the most wonderful man in my life right now. Tony is my true soulmate. I am so happy with my life.... it can't get any better than this!

Monday, November 20, 2006

DO TELL.....

Well Saturday was the tell all day. We got up early, drove to Jackson to the Marine Recruiting Station for Matt's weigh in. Now let me tell you, the poor kids has worked his buns off this past week running, dieting, and just getting into shape.

We got there around 11:00, Staff Sgt. Screws took him in the back.... they came back out and HE HAD NOT LOST ONE POUND...of course, he hadn't gained either. The Gunny Sgt. was there and could believe that Matt weight 217. He said there was no way.

We talked a while about what Matt should do. So, we went ahead and signed the papers for his delayed entry. Did not date them... but since the deadbeat Dad had to sign too, he was there...

We left, went to WalMart and bought him this sauna suit. I've put him on the Atkins Diet and he is still running 1 1/2 - 2 miles a day.... with the sauna suit on now.

Sgt. Screws said that he had some guys that were coming home for the holidays and he's going to have them call Matt, schedule times where they can come work with him and "whip" him into shape. Of course, this too will give him some idea what Marine life is like.

Well.... I'm doing the *imsohappyicoulddancedance* the Dallas Cowboys beat the Indianpolis Colts... y'all just don't know how much I dislike Peyton Manning. Heck, I didn't like him when he played for Tennessee. Now don't get me wrong, he'S a good quarterback... but he's not a great quarterback. Great quarterbacks win super bowls... they don't choke... he chokes... heck, he couldn't beat Florida when he was at Tennessee and he couldn't win a national championship..

Now I know that it takes more than the quarterback to win... but come on...he chokes..

Enough on Peyton.....

Ok, I'm working on new looks for the place. Y'all just bear with me... the heart and soul may take on many different looks this week...

And this just in from the Associated Press... Secret Santa has been revealed...

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - For 26 years, a man known only as Secret Santa has roamed the streets every December quietly giving people money. He started with $5 and $10 bills. As his fortune grew, so did the gifts. In recent years, Secret Santa has been handing out $100 bills, sometimes two or three at a time, to people in thrift stores, diners and parking lots. So far, he's anonymously given out about $1.3 million. It's been a long-held holiday mystery: Who is Secret Santa?

But now, weak from chemotherapy and armed with a desire to pass on his belief in random kindness, Secret Santa has decided it's time to reveal his identity.

He is Larry Stewart, a 58-year-old businessman from the Kansas City suburb of Lee's Summit, Mo., who made his millions in cable television and long-distance telephone service.

His holiday giving started in December 1979 when he was nursing his wounds at a drive-in restaurant after getting fired. It was the second year in a row he had been fired the week before Christmas.

"It was cold and this car hop didn't have on a very big jacket, and I thought to myself, `I think I got it bad. She's out there in this cold making nickels and dimes,'" he said. He gave her $20 and told her to keep the change.

"And suddenly I saw her lips begin to tremble and tears begin to flow down her cheeks. She said, `Sir, you have no idea what this means to me.'"

Stewart went to the bank that day and took out $200, then drove around looking for people who could use a lift. That was his "Christmas present to himself." He's hit the streets each December since.

While Stewart has also given money to other community causes in Kansas City and his hometown of Bruce, Miss., he offers the simple gifts of cash because it's something people don't have to "beg for, get in line for, or apply for."

That was a feeling he came to know in the early '70s when he was living out of his yellow Datsun 510. Hungry and tired, Stewart mustered the nerve to approach a woman at a church and ask for help.

The woman told him the person who could help was gone for the day, and Stewart would have to come back the next day. "As I turned around, I knew I would never do that again," Stewart said.

Over the years, Stewart's giving as Secret Santa grew. He started a Web site. He allowed the news media to tag along, mostly because he wanted to hear about the people who received the money. Reporters had to agree to guard his identity and not name his company, which he still does not want revealed.

His entourage grew over the years, and he began traveling with special elves. People like the late Negro Leagues icon Buck O'Neil, who handed out hugs while Stewart doled out $100s. NFL Hall of Famer Dick Butkus will join Stewart this year in Chicago when Stewart hands out $100s in honor of O'Neil, the first African-American coach in the Major Leagues.

They'll give out $100,000 between Chicago and Kansas City. Four Secret Santas who Stewart "trained" will hand out an additional $65,000.

Doctors told Stewart in April that he had cancer of the esophagus and it had spread to his liver. He has been lucky, he says, to get into a clinical trial at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. But the aggressive chemotherapy has stripped away his appetite and energy. He's lost about 100 pounds, but has held onto his white hair.

The treatment costs more than $16,000 a month, not including the cost of traveling to Houston every two weeks and staying there for five or six days. He now has two months off, but returns to treatment in February.

His insurance company won't cover the cost of the treatment, which has left him concerned about his finances and his family.

Now, his mission is bigger than handing out $100 bills. Stewart wants to speak to community groups about his devotion to kindness and to inspire others to donate their time and money."That's what we're here for," Stewart says, "to help other people out."

Just goes to show that there is still good people out there who does good deeds. Mr. Stewart truly has added several stars to his heavenly crown.

Are they looking at the big picture or just a target weight.. I mean.. sheesh! You have to take into account bone mass, muscle mass and all that stuff.. a simple scale doesn't mean much...

Last year we used my work Christmas bonus (really not much but hey..) to make up two care packages of Christmas dinners for two families.. This year Chicklet wants to do 3.. I think we'll throw in a bit more and surprise her with 4... It felt great to know that at least their bellies would be full..

Turn.. I'm LMOO... yes I suppose it was a slip... considering that I wrote this at 1:00 am...

Busy... he is just big... he has been working out and has built up a lot of muscle, but is still not quiet where he needs to be as far as BMI... Please tell me how you lost the weight.

Bond... this is truly a good man and he will be richly rewarded.

Ann... we too put together care baskets for the less fortunate. We put enough food in there for a Christmas dinner and also toys for the kids. We will take an angel off the Angel tree and get for that family. It does make you feel good.... To bad we only think of doing this during the holidays.

Julie, Yeah, I know first hand that Atkins works. I lost 90 lbs on it, but when I went back to eating regular food I gained 40 of it back. I'm just doing this so he can get the weight off rather quickly. After he goes through Meps, and in the delayed entry program, he will be able to eat pretty much what he wants cause they will be working really hard with him. Just doing this to get him in.

Thank you Trav.... he's on the road to dedicating himself to the US Marine Corp. I think with him working with those guys it will help him. Sgt. Screws is going to tell them to give him a little taste of what boot camp will be like. And that's a good thing!